Following the June primary, which pitted state Sen. Jeff Stone (R) against incumbent Congressman
Raul Ruiz (D), contributions did not pour into Stone’s coffers.
At the end of September, Ruiz had more than 20 times the available cash for the final five weeks of the campaign than Stone had. During the three months from July through September, Ruiz received about $480,000 in contributions compared to Stone’s $85,000. Consequently, Ruiz spent about eight times Stone’s expenditures during the same period — $875,000 to $117,000.
As election day approaches, the pattern of contributions to Ruiz from individuals and political action committees has remained consistent. In this quarter, Ruiz was the beneficiary of about $165,000 from PACs with about half of the $300,000 from individuals. However, both were about 20 percent of the previous totals from individuals and committees.
Most of the PAC money comes from groups based in Washington, D.C., or around its beltway. Nearly half a million dollars (half his total) of Ruiz’s committee contributions came from that area compared to $106,000 from all of California.
About 40 percent of the individual contributions to Ruiz were received from California residents, including several from Idyllwild. In contrast, nearly 90 percent of Stone’s individual contributors were California residents, but only one was from Idyllwild.
